Italy misses deadline on air quality warning

The dominance of the 'realist' camp in the Brussels' bureaucracy explains the EU's past and current behaviour towards Ukraine — in which reform shortcomings and failures are rarely openly called out.

The EU is meant to become a safer place for women from Sunday (1 October), as the Istanbul Convention enters into force.

Life in Nagorno-Karabakh has become a hellscape. For the time being, Azerbaijan's calculation is that it is best off waging war to get what it wants, then signing a ceasefire deal that codifies its gains.

While Belarus has not sent its own troops to fight Russia's war in Ukraine, the Minsk dictatorship has been heavily involved. As a result, Belarus must be punished for its involvement — what can the world do to sanction Belarus?

Russia's use of diamonds in corruption schemes in Europe and Africa gives upcoming G7 ban a strategic value beyond any moral or financial one, Ukraine says.

Senior EU officials insist a majority of EU states support tougher asylum reforms after Germany decided to drop its veto despite a last minute reported backlash from Italy.